Scouting the Minutemen: Massachusetts enters this weekend's two game series with UNH at 11-17-2 overall and 8-14-1 in Hockey East. The Minutemen played Maine last weekend and suffered a 0-2 loss on Friday, but bounced back with a 5-2 win on Saturday. Maine evened the score to 2-2 in the second period, but Massachusetts retaliated with three goals during the third period. The Minutemen finished the night with a 27-25 shot advantage and won 32 of 58 face-offs. Four Massachusetts players had multi-point nights against Maine in this series. Earlier in that week, Massachusetts suffered a tough loss to Northeastern in overtime. At the end of the third period, the score was tied at 4-4 and with 56 seconds remaining in overtime Northeastern scored the game-winner. Overall, Massachusetts is 2-5-0 over the last seven games. Offensively, the Minutemen are led by Branden Gracel a junior with 14 goals and 17 assists for 31 points. Following closely behind is Michael Pereira, a junior with 12 goals and 13 assists for 25 points. At the start of the season, the Minutemen mainly used the sophomore goalie, Kevin Boyle but as of late Steve Mastalerz has seen more playing time. Boyle is 8-10-2 with a 2.73 GAA and a .897 save percentage in 20 games. Sophomore Mastalerz is 3-6-0 with a 3.25 GAA and a .884 save percentage in 11 games this season.

Series History vs. Massachusetts: UNH has a 81-20-8 lifetime record vs. Massachusetts in 109 all-time meetings dating back to Feb. 13, 1926. UNH has captured the past two season series with Massachusetts by posting a 6-3-1 mark over the last 10 meetings. UMass won this year's only meeting 2-1 in overtime at Mullins Center. UNH is 11-3-3 in the last 16 meetings with the Minutemen. Coach Umile owns a 42-12-7 all-time record against UMass in his coaching career. Junior Kevin Goumas is the active scoring leader against the Minutemen with eight points in six games. Casey DeSmith is 1-2-0 against UMass with a 2.97 GAA and a .924 save percentage.

Wildcats Stamp Ticket to Hockey East Postseason for League-Best 25-Straight Seasons: By virtue of its 4-3 win over Vermont on Feb. 22, the Wildcats have punched their ticket to the Hockey East playoffs for a league-best 25-straight seasons.

Home Sweet Home: After playing just two home games in February, the Wildcats will play the final four games of the regular season at home. The Wildcats are 9-3-1 at home this season.

Four "Control their Own Destiny": After Tuesday night's makeup games, there are four team atop the league standings that can control their own destiny by winning the final four games of the regular season to ensure at least a share of the conference's regular season championship.

Smoother Road: UNH was just 5-11-3 on the road in 2011-12. The Wildcats concluded the 2012-13 season with a 7-5-4 road mark.

View from the Top; First Time Since February 2011: UNH captured first place with a three-point weekend. It marks the first time since February 25, 2011 the Wildcats were first in the Hockey East standings.

Six Teams Separated by Two Points: The race of home-ice and the Hockey East regular season title could not get much closer. Just two points separate first place from sixth place. UNH, Boston College, UMass-Lowell and Providence (28 pts) are tied for first place. Merrimack is just one point behind the trio with 27 points, while Boston University is in sixth place with 26 points.

Where They Can Finish: UNH can finish no worse than sixth place in the regular season, matching last year's finish. New Hampshire has already ensured that it will finish ahead of Vermont, Northeastern, Massachusetts and Maine.

Working Overtime: UNH has played overtime in three of the last five games and eight times overall this year. The 'Cats are 1-1-6 in those games this season.

Powerful Power Play: UNH scored four power play goals over the weekend against Vermont. The Wildcats netted three power play goals for the first time since Dec. 5, 2010 when the Wildcats went 3-for-7 in a 5-1 win over Vermont. UNH was 3-for-8 last night.

van Riemsdyk Produces in Vermont: Trevor van Riemsdyk setup three of UNH's four goals on Friday night and netted New Hampshire's lone goal on Saturday at Vermont. He has four multi-assist efforts this season.

Record When TVR Contributes Offensively: UNH is 11-0-4 when van Riemsdyk has a point. The squad is 9-0-3 when the defenseman has an assist with a 5-0-1 mark when he lights the lamp.

4 Score: UNH has scored four goals or more 15 times this season with a 13-1-1 mark in those games.

'Cats Allow A Season Low 14 Shots: UNH allowed just 14 shot on net in a 4-3 win over the Catamounts.

Wildcats and Black Bears Flex for NESN: NESN has decided to flex one of the greatest rivalries in college hockey for the regular season finale. UNH and Maine will now be played March 9 at 4 p.m. at the Whittemore Center. The border war will follow Bruins' hockey and preceed Red Sox baseball.

Block Party: Austin Block matched a career-high with two goals on Friday night. The senior is enjoying a breakout season with 13 goals and three multi-goal efforts this season. Block has six power play goals this season.

Willows Lights the Lamp for Second-Consecutive Game: After scoring just one goal in his first 38 games, Matt Willows has goals in back-to-back games.

Pesce Receives High Marks from Central Scouting: Freshman defenseman Brett Pesce is the highest ranked collegiate player in the CSS Midterm 2013 NHL pre-draft rankings. Pesce is ranked 36th among North American skaters and has been projected as a first or second round draft pick according to some outlets. The highly-skilled blueliner celebrated his 18th birthday in November, while his captain Connor Hardowa celebrated his 24th birthday on the same day.

All in the Family: Junior forward Scott Pavelski is the younger brother of Joe Pavelski of the San Jose Sharks while sophomore defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk is the younger brother of former wildcat and current Toronto Maple Leaf forward James van Riemsdyk.

'Cats Selected in the NHL Draft: Two current UNH players have been selected in the National Hockey League draft. Greg Burke (Washington) and Eric Knodel (Toronto) have all been drafted.

UNH on the Radio: In the summer of 1999, the University of New Hampshire Athletic Department formed the "UNH Sports Network" — the largest network ever to broadcast UNH sporting events.In 2009, Wildcats Sports Properties has added WPKX-AM 930 (Rochester) , WZEI-FM 101.5 (Meredith/Concord) and WQSO-FM 96.7 (Portsmouth) as affiliate stations on the Wildcat Sports Network, joining flagship WGIR-AM 610 (Manchester), which was added in 2008. All three stations are part of the Clear Channel family. These three aforementioned stations -- along with WNTK-FM 99.7 (New London), WASR-AM 1420 (Wolfeboro) -- will carry the following: all UNH football & men's hockey broadcasts, a select number of men's basketball, women's basketball and women's hockey broadcasts. Dan Parkhurst will be handling the play-by-play for the sixth-straight season, while Pete Webster will once again be doing the color commentating. Webster has been announcing Wildcat hockey since the 1993-94 season.

Listen on the Internet: UNHWildcats.com via Stretch Internet Broadcast will carry all of the UNH men's ice hockey action again this season. If you can not attend Wildcat hockey, you can still tune into the game from anywhere you can gain access to the internet. Fans can get to the UNH men's ice hockey broadcast site by going to the men's hockey schedule page at www.unhwildcats.com.

Wildcat Awards: Here is a list of awards that Wildcat players have won to date this season:Player Award Date
Dalton Speelman HE Player of the Week 10/15
Casey DeSmith HE co-Defensive Player of the Week 10/22
Casey DeSmith HE co-Defensive Player of the Week 10/29
Casey DeSmith HE Goaltender of the Month October
Casey DeSmith HE Defensive Player of the Week 11/5
Connor Hardowa Senior CLASS Award Candidate 11/13
Casey DeSmith HE Defensive Player of the Week 11/19
UNH Wildcats HE Team of the Week 11/19
Dick Umile XOS Digital Coach of the Week 11/19
Kevin Goumas HE Player of the Week 11/26
UNH Wildcats HE Team of the Week 11/26
Grayson Downing HE co-Player of the Week 12/3
UNH Wildcats HE Team of the Week 12/3
Austin Block All-Tourney team (Dartmouth) 12/31
T. van Riemsdyk MVP Battle for RiverStone Cup 1/26

Granite State Connection: The Wildcat hockey team features three players from New Hampshire with Greg Burke (Lee) Ryan Randall (Durham) and Casey DeSmith (Rochester) all hailing from the Granite State.

NCAA Northeast Regional Tickets Now On Sale: The University of New Hampshire athletic department and the NCAA announced that tickets for the 2013 NCAA Northeast Regional on Friday, March 29 and Saturday, March 30 hosted by UNH and the Verizon Wireless Arena are now on sale. Tickets for the three-game package range from $55-$75. Game times will be announced at a later time. To purchase tickets in person, please visit the Whittemore Center or Verizon Wireless Arena box offices. To purchase tickets by phone, call 1-800-745-3000 or visit http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0100491F81FE34B9 or www.verizonwirelessarena.com to order tickets online.

'Cats Picked Fourth in Preseason Coaches' Poll: UNH was voted fourth in the Hockey East Preseason Coaches' Poll, which was announced Tuesday afternoon at the league's annual media day at Legends Restaurant at the TD Garden. The Wildcats racked up 64 points, including one first place vote, to give them the fourth place standing. New Hampshire has been picked third in the last two preseason polls and finished in the top three in Hockey East five of the last six seasons, including three regular-season titles in that span.2012-2013 Hockey East Preseason Coaches PollRk. Team (FPV) Pts
1. Boston College (9) 90
2. UMass-Lowell 74
3. Boston University 734. New Hampshire (1) 63
5. Maine 56
6. Northeastern 44
Providence 44
8. Merrimack 38
9. Massachusetts 35
10. Vermont 23